In Head First .. 57 T-Bird

[cwmax]

Hi all,
I've been here at AF for a couple months now, read almost every thread in these modeling sections and am truly amazed by the model building talent here. Really stunning details. I haven’t seriously built a model in some 20+years. You may have seen a couple of my projects in the Diecast section, . But now I've decided to give the 1:24 plastic kits another shot. The reason is 1. I use to really enjoy building them and 2. I found there's a local model contest in about 10 days... Wha you say...... yup, I'm going in head first for sure. It will be curbside, I think I can pull it off.

On to the kit. I was off to the local Walmart today picked up this kit, 1957 Thunderbird by AMT. I have to say I was disappointed after inspecting the parts. The rear axle, exhaust molded to the chassis, not alot of parts in the kit. What ever happen to clear / red tailight lens's?. Lots of mold lines and flashing on everything. The right rear tailight housing was off by quite a bit. Flashing on the chrome is the real bummer. Don't know if this is typical of AMT? Ah well... I managed to get the body smoothed out, I'll get a coat of primer on it tomorrow. But not sure what I can do with the chrome. Some of the flashing on the ends of the bumpers and around the windshield frame will be seen, If anyone has a suggestion for this other than stripping them down and going BMF, or buy another kit I would appreciate it.

Here's a few pics..... the tires and wheels are off a 29 RatRod kit I picked up, I may change these though, my LHS has some Pegasus wheel sets, I never really look to see exactly what sets are there. Not sure If I want to go Street Rod or Rat Rod.

Not sure on colors yet.

I'll post progress as I go... 10 days and counting ...











...wish me luck.

.

[675datsun]

Good to hear that you're amped about building!
You can do it! Take your time do it right...is that from a song
Great choice of wheels/tires, I say keep them if you're going with that killer stance/rake and you want the old school look.
Modern tires on large diameter Torq-Thrust-style wheels would work
too!
I'm alsmost certain that you'll want to detail that huge chrome grille with a blackwash.
I can see it now...candy apple red...biscuit interior....lots of BMF...20 chrome wires...contest winner!

[druid_99]

Good luck on your build. Usually that is the quality that I expect from AMT. Flashing everywhere and fitting problems. The pick-up in the background looks interesting though.

[white97ex]

yeah. i want to see the truck in the background! yes, the amt kits are lacking in detail, lots of flashing, and fitment problems, i am doing their 88 mustang right now, its a custom modelled after a friends 6 second 8th mile car. check it out some time. lol

[KustmAce]

Originally Posted by white97ex

yeah. i want to see the truck in the background!

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=272384

[SupaMan89T]

I picked up a AMT 427 ford fairlane and it had metal rear axle that goes threw the rearend and crappy parts,The motor is all im gonna use and put it in a focus or something.

[willimo]

AMT kits are hit or miss. Some are fantastic, and other are far from it. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about the chrome in 10 days. The absolute best thing you could do is to strip it, smooth it, and spray it gloss black and follow up with some AlcladII chrome. That stuff works well enough to make me a beleiver! If you had the time, I'd say go that route, it's not even very hard.

The wheels honestly look perfect... I'm almost tempted to say leave it in in gray primer on top of those! As long as the kit's shortcomings don't bum you out too much, I imagine this is as good as any as a rewelcoming back to the hobby. It seems you have some tricks up your sleeve, so I can't wait to see what you're going to do here.

[cwmax]

Thanks Kust, but the "truck" in the background is my 49 Merc sitting on those Dubs, restripped and prep'n for paint again.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=286514

This AMT kit has some probs, nothing fits . I'll deal with it.

willimo... I read about the AlcladII, Looks like some great stuff. I may look at ordering some. I'll see what my LHS has to offer tomorrow. The kit is molded in a lite gray, after all the sanding I had to do, I will paint it. These wheels and big white walls are really starting to grow on me, they may stay.

[Purpura Delujo]

You could get another kit for the contest you know, AMTs would require alot of work, money and time to win contests. But with 10 days to build in a kit with no engine detail etc would be alot easier to finish.

Good luck with it mate hope you don't get too frustrated.

[Layla's Keeper]

What you have to realize about AMT is that unlike Tamiya (which only started producing full detail kits in the 80's), AMT has been producing kits since the 1950's. Many of their kits have been in production nearly non-stop since they were introduced.

That particular kit, the AMT 1957 Thunderbird, has been around since 1957!

Back in the day, the three big model companies Johan, MPC, and AMT, did what were called promos. These were 1:25th scale curbside models that were given away at car dealerships to people who test drove the new year's cars. Each year, Johan, MPC, and AMT would tool up dozens of new promos, and then they'd cut the hoods open and tool up engines, custom body parts, and the like and produce model kits out of the promos too.

Eventually, to reach the demand of builders who wanted a bit more detail, AMT introduced the "Trophy Series" kits in 1959. The first of these was AMT's 1932 Ford. These kits had better detailed engines that could easily be swapped amongst Trophy Series kits, they had even more building options (3n1 and 4n1 were common sayings in the day). Eventually, the Trophy Series grew to include.....

1940 Ford
1941 Plymouth
1956 Ford Crown Victoria
1957 Chevy Bel Air
1958 Chevy Impala
1949 Mercury
1951 Chevy Bel Air
1951 Chevy Fleetline
1953 Studebaker
1959 Chevy El Camino.

All of these kits were tooled between 1959 and 1964. Kits of this quality didn't start to be produced again at AMT until the mid 70's under Matchbox/Lesney ownership, when the hot kit was their 1970 Challenger.

In the mid 80's, AMT and MPC were bought up by diecast maker Ertl. Ertl was well aware of the growing trend towards detail and accuracy conscious adult builders and aimed squarely at them - particularly since mortal rival Monogram (fresh off of a merger with Revell) had enjoyed uncanny success with highly accurate NASCAR kits as well as a new 1970 Boss 429 Mustang. AMT's biggest shot back was their 1966 Chevy Nova kit, which was released in both 327 powered stock version (complete with a spare block and engine stand that could be displayed next to the completed car) and in a radical tunnel-rammed pro street version. The kits were the brainchild of John Mueller. A legendary tool cutter whose previous triumphs were the stellar line-up of 1:16th scale kits in AMT's range (his favorite being the Cord 812).

Under John Mueller, AMT/Ertl became the powerhouse of scale muscle car detail. He made regular features of separate fuel lines (as seen in the 1962 Pontiac 421SD Catalina, 1960 Ford Starliner, and 1962 Ford Thunderbird), separate frames or front subframes (as seen in the 1966 Olds 4-4-2 W30, 1970 Baldwin Motion Camaro, 1968 Plymouth Road Runner), separate shift linkages on transmissions (1966 Ford Fairlane 427, 1967 Shelby GT350 Mustang) and even released new correct kits of cars that AMT had previously released inaccurate versions of (1970 Coronet, 1970 Camaro Z28, 1971 Duster). The multiple versions of the different kits were phenomenol as well, as Mueller was well up on current hot rod trends. The 1957 Chevy gained a backhalved chassis with custom four link, tubs, and a big fuel cell in the trunk, plus a sweet 454 under hood. The 1970 Monte Carlo SS454 gained the industy's first ever Lowrider version, complete with fully poseable suspension. There were no less than 3 Super Stock versions of the 1962 Bel Air kit, a kit whose tooling also spawned an Impala convertible. And the crowning achievment of tool sharing was the lineup of 1968-70 midsize Mopar muscle cars. From the same tooling, Mueller spawned an accurate Road Runner, Coronet, and Super Bee, plus Pro Street versions of both the Road Runner and the Coronet. Not to mention the first plastic appearance of the prototype DOHC Hemi.

However, due to a kit market slowdown in 2001, Mueller and his staff were let go as Racing Champions bought up AMT/Ertl. The last Mueller AMT kit was a 1962 Ford Thunderbird. After Mueller, AMT only released four all new kits. A new Ala Kart kit, a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere (a Mueller project that he hadn't finished, also it was going to be a Fury), and the two Fast & Furious kits.

Much of the quality of an AMT kit depends on the era on which it comes from. Remember, you're dealing with going on 60 years of kit production. Some of these kits are archival, especially as Racing Champions re-issues kits by the boatload as opposed to producing new ones. Still, many an AMT kit is chock full of detail and sweet parts. Don't go off on the whole company because you got one of the relics. Do a bit of checking around to see if it's a kit you're after, and you'll be rewarded with some of the sweetest building muscle cars and classics around.

[Wheelin75r]

Nice job. Love those steelies, but maybe not on this car.

[cwmax]

Wow... Thanks for all the info Layla... I wasn't going off on AMT. I know there are good and bad with anything. But this kit is bad, and I had the same thought about when this kit may have been produced. Given they may even be useing the same molds. The body is the worst of it, the dash seems fairly well detailed but does'nt fit too good at all. On the flip side the engine parts tree is crisp with good detail and very little or no flashing. In any case it just means a little more work for me on the body parts.

I had planed on priming the body and spraying the chassis today but, 89% humidity @69F not too good for painting. But I'll get the engine halves assembled and work on some other small details.

[cwmax]

Originally Posted by Purpura Delujo

You could get another kit for the contest you know, AMTs would require alot of work, money and time to win contests. But with 10 days to build in a kit with no engine detail etc would be alot easier to finish.

Good luck with it mate hope you don't get too frustrated.

Thanks .... I don't think I'll have a winning entry, but I will do my best to make a descent showing. I thought about getting a better kit, but this is perfect, hopefully I'll learn a few things by practice and I don't have to worry about destroying a good kit

[primera man]

This is a nice looking project i'll keep an eye on.

Welcome back to the land of building

[CamaroSSBoy346]

now someone needs to make a 97 (40 yr anniv?) Thunderbird (transkit) and then i can convert it to a 94... like the one in my profile.